Together we are strong

Different and innovative volunteering opportunities

Some of our team here have been investigating new and different volunteering opportunities and where they are being advertised. Following a search on Do-it – we came across very little that we felt fitted into the above description (although we appreciate that these words are open to interpretation). One seemingly strange opportunity was described as ‘Regional Staff’ – but maybe that’s a debate for another thread?

What we are looking for are some examples of new and different opportunities so we can inspire our local groups and provide them with some reference points.

Any suggestions of where or examples from your organisations would be much appreciated. Feel free to contact my colleague Helen off this blog if preffered.

How about…

– Guide Dogs will be pilotting sighted guides (non-canine) for blind people over the next year – more info from Kerry Tweed at Guide Dogs

– Southbank Centre in London has a small army of volunteers – based in a rather nice beach hut outside the Royal Festival Hall – who are guides and information gurus for visitors to the Southbank as they celebrate the Festival of Britain’s 40th anniversary: volunteer supremo. Andrew Reed can tell you more about how they got it up and running.

– HMS Belfast has happy volunteers restoring gun-turrets and suchlike (in fact, museums volunteers get up to all sorts). Not a new role, but certainly a bit different.

If I think of any more, I’ll post.

The three above were all driven by the need of the cause, rather than the need to have new/different roles for volunteers – so maybe lateral thinking about the cause is a good place to start.